1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer networks, and more particularly to a technique for modifying display information of web pages displayed to end users of a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet has recently become a popular information resource for even the most unsophisticated computer user. The popularity of the Internet as an information source is due, in part, to the vast amount of available information that can be downloaded by almost anyone having access to a computer and a network connection. The Internet's strength also lies in its open-ended nature. These and other factors have contributed to an exponential increase in Internet usage and with it, an exponential increase in the volume of available information. For example, businesses, companies, and individuals collectively publish enormous amounts of information on the Internet. As a result, a variety of informational web sites are accessible to computer users surfing the Internet. One such type of web site is referred to as a web log (“weblog”), or simply a blog.
A blog is typically implemented as a website which includes periodic, reverse chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage. Such web sites are typically accessible to any Internet user. Individual posts (which collectively form the blog or weblog) either share a particular theme, or a single or small group of authors. The totality of weblogs or blog-related webs is typically referred to as the blogosphere. The format of weblogs may vary, for example, from simple bullet lists of hyperlinks, to article summaries with user-provided comments and ratings. It is common for individual weblog entries to be dated and time-stamped.
Quite typically, weblog pages and/or other types of informational web pages include more information than can be presented to the end-user on a single display screen. As a result, the end-user is often required to scroll up/down the web page in order to view all of the information included in that web page. For example, a blog web page may include 15 separate entries, of which at most five entries may be viewable on the end-user's display screen at any one time. In order to view of the entire contents of the web page, the user may start viewing blog entries at the top of the web page and then scroll down to read the additional blog entries.
Issues may arise, however, when the user terminates the current Internet browsing session, and subsequently views the same the web page during a subsequent Internet browsing session. For example, according to conventional techniques, if the user desires to access the same web page in a subsequent Internet browsing session, the user may bookmark the web page by locally storing the URL associated with that web page. When the user later desires to access the same web page, the user may utilize the bookmark to cause the Internet browser application to retrieve the web page associated with the locally stored URL. However, conventional bookmarking techniques do not provide the user with the ability to choose where to bookmark the location or position of the web page which was last viewed by the user. Thus, when the desired web page is retrieved in a subsequent Internet browsing session, the retrieved web page will typically be displayed to the user starting at the top portion of the web page. This may be undesirable to the user since it requires the user to manually determine and locate the last viewed location/position of the web page. Additionally, conventional browser and bookmarking mechanisms do not include functionality for displaying to the user newly implemented changes and/or modifications to the web page since it was last viewed by the user. Thus, the user may also be burdened with the additional task of manually determining the presence and/or location of such changes and/or modifications in the retrieved web page. Further, conventional browser mechanisms do not provide the user with the ability to track changes in web page paginations.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that there exists a continual need to improve upon Internet browsing techniques in order to enhance the end-user's browsing experience.